Soccer with the Pumas

Katy had a fun season with the Pumas. Within her team were a few girls from school plus a handful of girls who soon became friends. The first few games in the Under 8/9 division were easy with the Puma absolutely trampling the opposition. This tends to happen as they were an older team while most of the other teams had just moved up from Under 6/7's. As a result, for the sake of all teams the Puma moved up a grade to the Under 10's in division 3. The tables quickly turned on their first game which was played on a larger field against older girls and soon they were feeling a little out of sorts! We all kept focus on what was important...having fun and improving their skills. Each week they played better, grew in confidence and were holding their own. It was great to see.

The Pumas were invited to be ballbods for the Federation Cup, a knockout women's soccer competition. Belconnen United played against Canberra United Academy. On a chilly Wednesday evening, the girls lined up in the tunnel awaiting the big girls to emerge from the change rooms. Each Puma met a player from the Canberra United Academy who held their hand as they ran out on to the field. Katy's player looked tiny and very young compared to the other players but boy was she fast on the field! The Puma girls were excited.

The game itself was great and was nice for our girls to watch women play at a high level. We shivered through most of the match with Belconnen United leading on the scoreboard. The Pumas had no trouble keeping warm with their mini soccer match at half time. Unfortunately a rowdy group of spectators who were becoming increasingly boisterous with some inappropriate language and comments meant that we left before the final whistle.